‘Subsidies to rice farmers, a misuse of taxpayers money’ – JordanKaieteur News – Former Minister of Finance under the coalition government, Winston Jordan said the wanton handing out of different subsidies by the PPP/C government is a misuse of taxpayers’ monies. The subsidies to rice farmers include the removal of the commission from the Guyana Rice Development board (GRDB), distribution of free fertiliser and duty-free concession on machinery and equipment. It is subsidising an insurance premium, and of course, they go easy on farmers when it comes to the purpose of income tax with concession,” Jordan said. “Remember, over the last crop, we would have implemented a system where we make up the price of paddy. The weighted average per ton of white rice is $450 this is according to export quotas at the end of August.